Wells Fargo Center in downtown Tampa has sold
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 11, 2022

One of downtown Tampa’s premier office towers has a new owner.

The 22-story Wells Fargo Center on Ashley Drive has been sold to an investor group led by the Feil Organization for an undisclosed price, and a deed for the transaction has not yet been filed. The seller was a joint venture of Tampa-based Feldman Equities, New York Life Real Estate Investors and Tower Realty Partners.

The Feil Organization owns several suburban office buildings in the Tampa Bay area, including Baypoint Commerce Center, The Point at Gateway and 570 Carillon Parkway in St. Petersburg and TriPointe Plaza in Tampa.

“We will continue to run the property at the high standards set by the prior owner,” Brian Feil, executive vice president at the Feil Organization, said in a statement.

Feldman Equities paid $44.8 million for the tower in 2012; in 2014, Feldman sold its stake in the tower and reacquired it in 2015. Feldman poured $8.4 million into capital improvements in the decade it owned the tower.

“We are very proud of what we’ve accomplished during our 10 years of ownership of Wells Fargo Center. Following our acquisition of the building in 2012, we embarked upon a major capital improvement program that completely repositioned the building into one of downtown Tampa’s premier office buildings,” Larry Feldman, CEO of Feldman Equities, said in a statement.

The tower is 393,649 square feet and 93% leased, according to the sellers. Major tenants include Wells Fargo Bank, Phelps Dunbar, Wicker Smith O’Hara, Valet Living, Continuum Cloud and Carlton Fields.

A group of brokers from CBRE Group Inc. in Tampa, including Dale Peterson, Christian Lee, Tom Rappa, Joe Chick and Kristen McFarland Hagen, represented the sellers.

“The property’s exceptional quality and position within our best submarket allowed us to successfully execute this sale in light of the turmoil in the capital markets and in a rising interest rate environment,” Peterson said in a statement. “The downtown Tampa submarket continues to see robust office leasing activity and strong rent growth, which continues to fuel investor demand.”